One of a Kind Shoppe

Today I visited this cute little shoppe in Marietta. I am always out and about going to cute antique shops. I love refinished furniture and neat nik naks. I think that refinished furnitre has character. However, I fell in love with the very large hutch and buffet piece that I expected to be way out of my price range.. WELL it wasn't!! I was so excited, but I don't know that I can get my hubby on board. That will take some effort however for the time being. jump over and check them out herehttp://www.oneofakindshop.blogspot.com/.

Gulf Shores Memorial Day Weekend

AHHHH The Beach. It was a great weekend with friends this vacation. We left Thursday morning of Memorial day weekend. It only takes 6 hours from our house which was nice , since I don't like long car rides. The ocean was clear and free of oil. It was GREAT weather too!

This is Brittany. We stayed with her and her husband Drew at her parents beach home. Thanks for letting us stay Brittany we had a great time. She showed us all the good places to eat. We are at the Shrimp Basket here in this pic.

Drew and Brittany at the Oyster House



Me and Neil at the Oyster house after a few Margaritas!!!!


Drew and I always take shots of Tequila when we get together. The Cabo Wabo wasn't so bad!!

We went to the Pink Pony Pub after dinner at the Oyster House on Friday night. Me just lovin on the pony!!!

Saturday at the beach. Neil made a turtle in the sand.

Steeplechase 2010

Every year you see something bigger ,better, CRAZIER.... These people at Steeplechase go over the top with their space, clothes, Big HATS, whatever you name it. Below, is an El Camino with the entire back end full of beer and ice.
If you look to the far left of the guy in the blue jersey holding the beer, he has on roller skates. This guy with the Rebel flag is showing us that "THE SOUTH AS RISEN AGAIN."!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Stephanie, my best friend from college went with us this year. That is her boyfriend Eric to the right of her.

These are they guys, Dave, Neil and Mike. Usually their are a couple more, but there were some last minute changes to our group this year. Next year we will be back on track.

Neil told me I had to have a BIG HAT this year. So, that is exactly what I did!! Big enough for me and him!!

Me and Brittany and her little baby Murihead experiencing his or her first Steeplechase!!!

Neil, Josh, and Drew....

Later in the day there is usually a band and a big party. I am pretty sure Stephanie and I were having a great time.


Me, Amanda, and Stephanie... Old College roomies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Don't know the other girl!!!! (the one in the red) If I could photoshop it would have been cropped!!

Neil decided he was going to sport my BIG Hat around... I guess the SUN was getting to him... Yeah right!!!

This year was much better than last year.... It rained so much it was a complete mud pit.
This is what it was like last Steeplechase 2009.

Springtime 2010

These are just a few snapshots of what we planted in April. I will get some more updated photos of our home soon. I went with pink, white, and purple this year!! I am very happy. My Geraniums are doing really well. I have had some trouble with them in the past, but I think I have the knack to keep them around this year.

I talked Neil into letting me get some hydrangea plants. At first he was little skeptical about them, but it is very happy we got them now. We have two blue and two pink plants alongside the back of our house. These plants like a little sun, mostly shade, and lots of water/

We made two flower beds this year in the front. We planted pink, white , and purple, petunias.

Our garden consists of tomatoes, tomatoes, and a few more tomatoes!! There are a few chili and jalapeno plants thrown in too.

Update

WoW!!! It has been a while. I need to take some time here and get some things updated. First of all, I want to tell you about the pottery lady. I went back just to get a complete refund and received a check from her. I went the next morning to cash it because I had a bad feeling. Well, like always my gut feeling was right... HOT CHECK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was furious!!!!!!!!! I immediately went to her place of business and confronted her. Needless to say she had an excuse.... I am in the banking business... THEY ALL HAVE AN EXCUSE!!!!! Anyway, I waited a day and then deposited it. It was fine. However, I never did get my pottery and have told everyone I know NOT to go there.

I will be finding a new place to be creative.

What Should I do?

As you know from the post below, Neil took me to paint pottery for Valentines Day. I had such an awesome time, thought the place was cool and definitely wanted to go back. So, two weeks later I went by myself one Saturday night to paint another piece of pottery. I was SUPER excited about it too. The first piece was a chip and dip server. I had to make a few corrections on it and she was going to fire it again to reset it. The second piece was a pretty casserole dish in a black wire rack , that I JUST LOVED. Usually the pottery is done in about 5 days, so the following Thursday I went to pick up my things.

The strangest thing happened. When I arrived, I go to open the door and then all of a sudden it flings open with this "DEER IN HEADLIGHTS LOOK." She looked at me like I had two heads or something, I explained I was here to pick up my pieces. On top of this , I didn't even get two steps inside the store. She stood in my way and blocked me. Isn't this weird or is it just me? It makes me wonder what was going on in there. She began to go into this long story about how sick she has been this past week, DOCTORS ORDERS TO STAY IN BED.... Yada Yada Yada.
She didn't have my pieces finished. I told her it was fine and I will come back this weekend.

Saturday: I am at work and get a phone call on my cell phone and a message is left. It states something like this " HEY ANDREA, I AM SO SORRY TO TELL YOU THIS BUT BOTH OF YOUR PIECES ARE SCREWED UP." Well, that's I took it. After I listened to this , I couldn't believe that a BUSINESS would leave this kind of message. You don't tell your customers that there stuff is MESSED UP. I returned her call and told her I would be by shortly. When I got there she was not there, but her daughter was there. I wasn't real happy about that either. My casserole dish was concave in the bottom and my Sentimental piece was broken. So, you tell me, was it the KIL (sp) or the user that messed them up?

I am more upset about my first piece because Neil took it to me to do this. So now, I have to go back and spend another three hours doing the chip and dip, but I asked for a refund on my casserole dish that took me two hours. Did I do the right thing or what would you have done in my situation?

Valentines Day!!

For Valentines Day Neil surprised me by taking me to Glazy Dazy!! It is a place to paint your own pottery. I have talked about it for a year and he surprised me BIG TIME!!!! I absolutely had a blast painting. It was very relaxing and wonderful quality time spent with MY LOVE!!

Here we are in action! I chose a chip/veggie dip tray. Neil did a coffee mug and shot glass!

Here is Neil's mug. He decide to do some spatter paint on his.

Here is my masterpiece. I thought of football season. How Awesome will this look on my table during football games!!

Thanks Sweetie for the best Valentines Day Ever!! You have lot to live up to next year!!

Love you , Andrea

We Finally Got Some SNOW!!!!!

My New Mixer

Isn't it beautiful!!! I registered for one when I got married in 2007. I knew it was a long shot of someone actually buying it because they are anywhere from 300-500 dollars. I was browsing some stores and last year was the 90th anniversary of kitchen aid. This was the ONE. I had to have it. Luckily with some Christmas money and gift cards I was able to get it.

I can not wait to try it out. I am hoping sometime in the near future I will have more time BAKE!! So for now the CANDY APPLE RED MIXER is sitting beautifully on my kitchen counter. She shines like a 10kt diamond!!!! I love to just walk in my kitchen and have her stare back at me!!

I know, your telling yourself "is she looney or what over a mixer." Well, Yes I am. Just kidding, I am not that nutty!

I hope to share pictures and recipes in the future. Her help will be greatly appreciated.

Happy New Year 2010!!!!

This New Years some of our really good friends came to Celebrate it with us. We had dinner reservations at Fogo Da Chao. It was an excellent place to dine, especially for a group.

Left to Right is Lance and Katie, Neil and I , and Brittany and Drew. So, we came home to celebrate the New Year. We played games and a few drinks to ring in 2010.

Me , well, it always happens when alcohol is involved, I get OUT OF HAND!!! I ended up wearing the tree topper around the house.

These girls are just nothing but CRAZY!!!!

However, there were three who couldn't finish out the party, take a look!!!!

Neil

Katie

Brittany

Thanks so much for visiting. We have decided to make this a tradition to spend New Years together. So, who is hosting it next year?

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2010